Hill Times Letter: Canadian government itself was never born on this land

Letter to the Hill Times Editor published May 24, 2023

Re: “Despite passport polemic, Canada wasn’t ‘born’ at Vimy Ridge,” (The Hill Times, May 15).

Canadians spend a lot of time discussing their “birth of a nation.” This includes the myth that there was a time the peoples of this land came together and created a form of self-determined responsible government they called “Canada.” My family celebrated Dominion Day for the first 14 years of my life, and then I proudly celebrated Canada Day for several decades after that.

I recently read the original British parliamentary documentation that describes what some call “Canada”: the 11 British North America Acts, Statute of Westminster 1931, Canada Act 1982, and so on.

It seems clear that Canada was not “born,” but manufactured to be part of the British Empire. While there is hysterical concern about vague political influence from China, new Canadian

citizens, and people who rise to certain levels of Canadian political power—such as Members of Parliaments and judges—must swear to be “faithful and bear true allegiance” to the Canadian Crown. This is the same colonial/genocidal institution that is also the British Crown, and the Crown of several other obviously foreign governments.

I previously participated in the debate about whether Canada is three times older than I am, two times older, 14 years younger, or some other number. The fact is that while I was claimed as a Canadian citizen when I was born on this land, the Canadian government itself was never born on this land.

Russell McOrmond

Unceded Algonquin territory (Ottawa, Ont.)